1953-54-there were eight productions, as I recall; then the number dropped to six, then to four, and now we do one production in three seasons," Graziosi says. "To me this is a sign of deca- dence." He is exaggerating: the parts of "Faust" that have been done so far are the equivalent of two or three normal productions, and during the same three seasons the Piccolo has mounted eight new productions under various directors and has remounted severa] Strehler productions. Still, one understands the frustration of an actor who has spent most of a season waiting to perform. Lazzarini feels similar frustration. "In the fifties, we didn't rehearse so long," she says. "A month of rehears- als was considered a lot, but each re- hearsal went on and on. The unions began to impose limits only around '62 or '63. When we did 'Platonov' in 1959, the dress rehearsal ended at six in the morning, and we went to the train station for our morning cappuccino." Strehler does not share his actors' nostalgia for the fifties. "If anything, I regret having been so prolific in those days that I had to be a cruel father and quickly forget one child in order to look after the next one," he said in an interview published a few years ago. But by early April I have the impression that he, too, is itching to perform. B EFORE Strehler was fifty, he did little work abroad, but in the nineteen-seventies he accepted invita- tions from the Opéra and the Théâtre de l'Odéon, in Paris; the Salzburg Festival; the Burgtheater, in Vienna; and the Schauspielhaus, in Hamburg. And in 1981, shortly after François Mitterrand became the President of France, Strehler and Jack Lang, the new Minister of Culture, created a project for a pan- European theatre, articulated, on the one hand, as a federation of some of the Continent's most important state-supported theatre companies, and, on the other, as a new company, based at the Odéon, in which outstanding theatre people from al1 over Europe would participate. In 1982, Strehler was made a commander of the French Legion of Honor, for having "marked the history of theatre interpretation," and in 1983 the Théâtre de l'Europe opened, with "The Tem- pest," performed at the Odeon by the Piccolo Teatro. The following year, 61 Strehler directed Corneille's "L'Illusion" at the Odéon with the new company of the Théâtre de l'Europe. He re- mained the company's director for six years but then found that he could not coördinate his duties in Paris with those in Milan. Lluís Pasqual, the head of Madrid's Teatro María Guerrero, who had been a disciple of Strehler's, assumed the direction of the Théâtre de l'Europe, and Strehler accepted the fundamentally honorary position of president of the Union des Théâtres de l'Europe, which includes major companies in Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Düsseldorf, Stockholm, and, of course, Milan and Paris. France, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland are the countries in which Strehler has done all his non-Italian work. Because he isn't fluent in En- glish, he hasn't worked in Anglophone countries, but he keeps track of what happens in the British theatre. "On the average, British actors are abso- lutely the best in the world, and the English language is incredibly plas- tic," he says. He considers his absence from the English -language stage a loss for himself, and he may be right; it is certainly a loss for us. His fame in the English-speaking world would have been more extensive than it is if he had dedicated part of his career to directing films. Over the years, he has initiated but never real- ized several movie projects, and the matter still rankles. "I adore the cin- ema and I believe in it as an art form, but I made the grave mistake of not thoroughly understanding that making a film is more like writing a novel than like directing a play," he says. "I'm talking about making a real 'author's film,' of course, because I would not have wanted to do anything less. Bergman, in making 'Fanny and Alexander,' was writing a novel using the medium of film. As a director in the theatre, on the other hand, he is mediocre-not terrible, but not great." I protest by mentioning a fine Bergman production of "Hamlet," but Strehler interrupts impatiently. "Yes, yes, it's like Visconti-not even his shit was worthless," he says. "Visconti did some respectable and important things in the theatre, but when you think of Visconti you think, above all, of his movies. Bergman's theatre versions of 'Ham- let' and 'King Lear' were O.K., but Bergman is the cinema! And thank God there is someone who can do YOUR CHILDREN WILL LOVE OUR PLAYROOM t R(j()flZ for the ktdr. And spaæ for you. That's what you'll find on a Greenbrier Family Summer V tKation. We have "The Brier Bunch," a play group for chIldren 3 to 5. A "Sports School" for ages 6 to 12. Plus plenty of activities from golf and tennis instruction to nature hikes for teens. We even arrange for youngsters to take their evening mfals with others their own age. And what dæs that leave for parents to do? AnythIng you want. Call (800) 624-6070 or (304) 536-1110, or see your travel agent. Fly American Airlines 727 jets, American Eagle or regular commuter serviæ by USAir & United Express. Family Summer V tKation PcKkage rate is $325 per couple, per day, double rxcuþamy. 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